Time Crystals
by 3cheersforidiots
Summary: In a freak accident, Luna somehow ends up being sent back into... 1944. Where she, of course, meets our resident all around baddie, Tom Riddle. Trying not to break her timeline, she searches for the easiest way out, question is if she can find it. Three-shot, written for the Arithmancy OWLs of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry forum. COMPLETED.
1. Act 1: The Setup

**A/N: So, time-travel three-shot. I had major hard time with these prompts to be extremely honest (and with keeping Luna in character as much as I could). I also feel like I totally could've expanded on this (this is actually a plot bunny I like), so if I decide to do another MC (strictly after I finish my others), it may be this with slight changes. No promises, though. I also apologize for not doing the Fleur French accent. I suck at writing accents, you see. Enjoy.**

 **Word count for 3 chaps: 2172**

 **Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry** : _Arithmancy OWL - Write a 3-chapter MC based on these prompts:_ (character) Voldemort/Tom Riddle Jr, (location) Hogsmeade, (dialogue) "Did I leave the stove on?", (character) Luna Lovegood, (dialogue) "That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard of. Let's do it.", (event) Quidditch practice, (emotion) fear, (dialogue) "Why don't you ever look at me like that?", (character) Dobby

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Act 1: The Setup

The dirty blond-haired little alleyway between Honeydukes and Zonko's, clutching a little device in her hand. This device was already crushed into miniscule pieces and was unrecognisable in its current state.

Luna quickly gathered herself from the ground and smudged the bit of dirt that had been on her face previously, as a by-product of her falling.

"So… This is what that spell does," she concluded, drawing her wand to cast a quick _Scourgify_ on herself. "At least I landed where I was aiming to."

She glanced around herself one more time before tucking her wand away and edging closer to what she supposed would be a bigger street of the town. She didn't care to even peer at the shards of that mysterious item that she had been holding when she had arrived, although she did wince at the stabbing pain in her right palm – probably caused by the glass splinters.

She soon reached the end of the alleyway and stepped out onto the open, glancing around once again to see if there were any other people ambling around. If she was correct – and hadn't lost her sense of time – it was a Saturday, so it was likely that the students were out on a Hogsmeade weekend – although it was the middle of a war; she wouldn't have been surprised if the streets were just as deserted as they would be on weekdays.

What she did notice though was a group of boys around her age – maybe a year or so older – and they were all clad in Slytherin uniforms.

 _Strange,_ Luna thought. _Usually, we change into casual clothing on Hogsmeade weekends. And I don't think I've seen them before._

It seemed like the group of three Slytherin boys also noticed her standing in the middle of the street with her biting her lower lip, so they approached her with a tall, handsome-looking boy in the lead.

"Say, what does a girl like you do here, at the far end of Hogsmeade?" the boy asked, his two companions whispering between each other. The boy seemed to notice this and quieted them down with a simple wave of his hand. "Boys, no need for unnecessary chatter."

"I'm enjoying my Hogsmeade weekend," Luna replied with a dreamy smile. "Just like you three. Although, I don't think I've seen you before, even though I know a few Slytherins from my Transfigurations class. Are you a year above me? You seem like you are."

"I don't think I've seen you before either," the boy said, his tone completely neutral but the intrigued sparkle evident in his eyes. Well, at least for Luna. She was not sure if his companions would've noticed it. "May I ask your name?"

"Lily Lingham," the girl answered. She couldn't quite trust the boy yet, and she was top priority on the Wanted list of the Ministry along with the Golden Trio, so even if it wasn't much of a disguise – as she didn't have time to put charms on her face when she stumbled out onto the open – but it was more than nothing. "How about you?"

"Your name isn't familiar," the boy noted. "The name's Riddle. Which year are you in?"

The cogwheels in Luna's head started spinning furiously. She had heard that name before, and she was quite sure she had heard it from Harry in particular. But if he wasn't an actual student at Hogwarts, then how could he –

And then it hit her like a ton of bricks, and she couldn't help but widened her eyes at the realization. She suddenly felt fear crippling through her veins just from the mere presence of _him_ , but she kept herself together. She had suffered from torture on multiple occasions in the last few months, and she had been just freed from being held as a hostage before she popped up in this… era. It was going to take more for her to break.

"Um, I'm a sixth year. Ravenclaw," she spoke. She wasn't quite sure how to mask her surprise – she wasn't good at being dishonest, after all – so she chose the easy way out. "You're the Head Boy, right?"

"Indeed," he replied, raising one eyebrow in the process.

"I think you're right, actually," Luna continued. "I should be leaving soon. I have Astronomy homework to do anyway. It was nice to talk to you, though. Bye!" she said hurriedly, waving goodbye to the boy and his two minions.

She sprinted down the street and stopped only when she was sure the boys were out of sight. She then leaned against the nearest wall and started contemplating as she caught her breath a bit.

This was certainly something she had not expected when she had dropped that little glass crystal back at Shell Cottage.


	2. Act 2: The Confrontation (literally)

Act 2: The Confrontation (quite literally)

Luna was sitting on the benches of the Quidditch Pitch. Under her, the Ravenclaw team was practicing for their upcoming match against Gryffindor, which meant that a group of her supposed housemates were seated above the field as well. It didn't even look suspicious that she was holding a notebook and was biting her quill while seemingly deep in thought.

She wasn't quite sure how she had managed to slip into her classes without getting any kind of attention from the professors – as she was surely a student they had never seen before – but she was glad that nobody has pointed out the oddity of her presence yet. And she had to admit that the Room of Requirements served her well.

If she really thought about it, she was actually glad that nobody seemed to notice her – aside from the occasional glances in her direction, coming mostly from the Slytherin table. She was acutely aware of the looks _he_ was sending her, and it was not a pleasant feeling; not at all.

 _Well, at least he hasn't made the move to actually talk_ , she thought as she noted down another sentence.

Alas, as soon as her mind finished the thought, she heard a voice that made her go rigid. "Well, isn't it Lingham? Or, should I say 'the new girl'?"

"What do you mean 'new girl'?" Luna replied, not quite confident enough yet to face him.

"Well, at least you're not trying to steer away the topic; I like that," the dark-haired boy said. "But I suppose you should know that I'm quite resourceful. Do you know what that means?"

"Do you… Do you know I'm from elsewhere?" Luna muttered. There was no point in pretending to be dumb, she supposed. Although, she wasn't quite sure how she would react to chain reaction this trip to the past would trigger.

"Certainly not Great Britain, no," Riddle nodded, "which actually makes me wonder how and why did you turn up in Hogsmeade not a week ago, as well as the clearly British surname you claim to have."

"I'm not sure if you'd be interested in the reason," Luna said, keeping her gaze fixated on her notebook.

"Oh, but I am," Riddle replied. Not a moment later, Luna felt a slight nudge in her mind. She supposed he was going to try using Legilimency on her, which she wasn't sure she would be able to resist. She had made sure to have minor protection, but she was nearly not as skilled as she supposed the young Dark Lord was. And if her Occlumency failed, the only way she could have protected her incriminating memories was if she pushed irrelevant thoughts onto the forefront of her mind – so she did just that, gripping her notebook tighter and shutting her eyes in the process, until she felt it slip from between her hands, which was when her eyes snapped open and she finally took a look at the boy next to her.

He was reading her notes.

"Using the reverse spell, ask Professor Dumbledore for advice, obtain another crystal…" the boy next to her listed the options she had written down. "What are these for?"

"Transfigurations Extra Credit," Luna answered. She hated lying, but this was more than a simple emergency. She had learned throughout the war that she had to do sacrifices if she wanted to survive, if nothing else. "I was trying to write an assignment on transfiguring quartz crystals into cuckoo clocks and back, but I'm stuck."

"However interesting that sounds, you're a terrible liar," Riddle noted, offhandedly throwing down the notebook beside himself. "So, tell me. What are these crystals and why would you ask Dumbledore for advice?" he asked, slight venom in his voice upon mentioning the Transfigurations professor.

"These are… I'm not sure, but they're supposed to by some kind of time crystals. I've read about them in a book in the library," Luna bit her lower lip. "I wanted to do extensive research on them, because they might come in handy, but I have no idea how to create them."

"Time crystals, huh?" Riddle said. "Interesting. I do wonder what would you use it for."

"Academic research," Luna answered.

"But you see, if you say 'academic research', then you must have some ulterior motive," Riddle explained. "Nobody's ever done anything purely for academic purposes; if one's researching something, it must be because the results would benefit them somehow other than their expansion of intellect."

"Not necessarily," Luna shook her head. "At least not for me. I don't think it's stupid to learn something solely because you want to learn it. Knowledge in itself is valuable, don't you think?"

"That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard of," Riddle disagreed. "But let's do it anyway."

"Let's do what?" Luna inquired.

"Time crystals, course," Riddle replied in a tone that suggested that there were no options for Luna other than to accept. "As you mentioned, they may come in handy. Do you have any ideas about the process of making one?"

"Maybe," Luna bit her lip. "We'll need the sand of an hourglass, a couple quartz crystals and potion ingredients."

Not that Tom Riddle knew the actual way of creating a time crystal, per se. But she wasn't planning on letting him in on that.


	3. Act 3: The Resolution

Act 3: The Resolution

Luna was currently crouching in the broom closet on the fourth floor corridor, clutching a small glass crystal in her hand. It was – unlike the one she had arrived in this time with, which had glowed in a purple-ish colour – glowing bright yellow, which, for Luna, indicated that it was set to throw her back into the time she had originally come from.

She was hiding, because she was not planning on being beside a certain seventh year Slytherin, when he found out that the method Luna had proposed to make a crystal had been a fake all along.

She still felt extremely bad for lying, like she usually did, but she soon had to realize that it was no time for her to worry about what had happened here, in the last few days. If all went according to plan, nothing would be changed.

And so, with one last glance at the locked entrance, she cast a quick _Comminuo_ on the crystal which broke instantly, erupting a strange light from itself. Not a moment later, both the witch and the broken time crystal were gone.

The next thing she knew, she was facing the sand of a beach, glass shards scattered all around her.

"It worked," she breathed, collecting herself once again. When she looked up, the first thing she saw instantly made her sigh in relief. It was Ron, chasing after Hermione while shouting "Why don't you ever look at me like that?" after her, while the brunette watched Harry, who looked like he was shovelling something, with what Luna perceived to be admiration.

It was actually Fleur who noticed her first, after stepping out of the cottage, possibly to call after Ron.

"Luna?" she called, rushing over to the blond's side. "We thought you were gone. What happened?"

"It's a long story," Luna replied with a small smile. "I can tell you if you want though."

"It can wait," Fleur said. "Are you okay? There are glass pieces all around you."

"I'm fine," Luna nodded. "Are you?"

"All of us are, except for that house elf," Fleur replied with traces of grief in her voice. "He was killed by that crazy woman. Harry's digging a grave for him."

"Dobby?" Luna asked. "I liked him. It must be really hard for Harry."

"It is," Fleur nodded in sympathy, then turned her head back to the cottage when she heard Bill yell "Fleur, something is burning in the kitchen!" from the entrance. "Oh, did I leave the stove on? Mon Dieu," she said with a horrid expression before glancing back at Luna once again. "Come in, we'll clean you up soon."

Luna quickly got to her feet and followed the other blond.

 _At least she was back in her time now_ , she thought. _Although, it also meant that she now had to go back to surviving._

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 _ **Comminuo:**_ **translates 'to break' in Latin, self-invented spell**


End file.
